I met Sue from work last Thursday night, I had arranged to go around to her flat for the night to raid her wardrobe for my works Christmas party next Friday which has a Chicago gangster Club theme, I have absolutely nothing glam to wear so Sue said she'd help me out. We had a nice meal at hers and I tried on a few dresses and found the perfect one, it's a bit clingy, but as long as I don't eat much for the rest of the week I should be ok!!

Friday after work I went to the gym, I have actually been going in the mornings lately, but because I stayed at Sue's I hadn't made it 3 times that week. I much prefer going in the mornings, once I'm out of bed I'm ok, it's just getting out of bed at 6am thats a killer! I've even noticed a difference in the shape of my body which is great. Anyway, back to Friday, I was the only one there for a while, so Michelle worked me out really hard, I had to do the circuit whilst she counted the reps I did on every machine, and on the 2nd time around I had to go even harder. I tell you, I thought I was going to be sick I was exhausted! It was good tho, it's not often you get one on one time.

Saturday, Jason and I went to our follow up appointments at the Chiropractors. He took a look at my back and my posture and he told me I had a sway back, which means a very acute curve in my lower spine, and then at the top, my neck goes forward, what with my wonky shoulders and waist, it seems I have to have a lot of work done to get my posture corrected. We are both having our x-rays next week and then we will go back for a further consultation...what a nightmare!

I didn't go out on Saturday night, I've really needed these last 2 chilled out weekends, they have been great. Last night I went to see Kylie. It was a really great concert, no U2, but still good fun. It would have been more fun if I wasn't on my own, but never mind. She put on a really good show, I was quite suprised at how raunchy it was, no wonder all the gay men love her shows, she has loads of hunky men galavanting on the stage in skimpy costumes. I did wonder as there were lots of children there, if it was my kids, I probably would have covered their eyes...but as it was, I really enjoyed it ;o)

I had asked Jason to tape the final of Aus Idol for me in the hope that I could just watch the announcement when I got home (I knew that I would find out the next day before I could watch it myself) but I didn't bargain on some loudmouth girls on the way to the train shouting out that Damien had won....I tell you I nearly turned around and shouted at them, bloody idiots. So they ruined it for me :-( Oh well, I will still watch it sometime this week.

It's been a really hot day today....38 degrees and very windy. When I came out of work I could smell the smoke from the bush fires out west, there was even the embers from the fires floating around the sky, it was quite eerie. There are real problems at this time of year with the fires, even some houses have been burnt down.
When I got off the bus near home it had cooled down considerably. What a relief!!

Went back to see U2 again last Monday night. It was really good again, maybe not as good as Saturday as we were right up in the heavens as only seated tickets were left, so the atmosphere wasn't as good. Also I stood up and the woman behind me told me to sit down, which I found really bizarre as we were at a rock concert!! Anyway, we found another couple of seats where people were being a bit more enthusiastic, so I managed to stand up there.
Tuesday I finally was able to meet my friend from Munich, Nicola who was visiting her sister. We had a nice lunch and a bit of a catch up. It's so funny how many people I know from overseas that have come over here.
Apart from that it's been a pretty quiet week, which I needed after the last few weeks. I went out with Sue after work on Thursday, was great to see her again, I haven't been able to for a while. As usual we had a laugh, it's great to have a chat with a girlfriend like Sue.
On Friday at work I got roped into playing netball! Bernard (they play mixed teams here) has asked me before, but I've always said no, I mean, it's been over 15 years since I've played and I didn't want to make a fool of myself! Anyway, he asked me again on Friday and I said no again, but after I felt really guilty, so I said, ok, if you can't find anyone else than I guess I can do it. So, of course, he couldn't find anyone else so I had to do it. For some silly reason they put me on as Goal Keeper which I found hard to understand considering my lack of height! Anyway, I coped, but it was pretty hard, I managed a few blocks, but couldn't stop any of the goals, I was pretty knackered afterwards, I didn't expect the GK to have to work so hard!! We did actually win tho 12-10 which I was pleased about, I didn't want them to lose because of me!!
I didn't finish work until a bit later on Friday, we had a few drinks courtesy of work and I did have a lot of work to do. I came home to a lovely home cooked meal, lentil burgers with a cheese, onion and spinach relish...it was absolutely yummy, I'm such a lucky girl! I was so looking forward to the weekend and doing nothing, we've been out so much lately and we've hardly done anything on our own, but this weekend we didn't have so much on.
Saturday morning we went to the Body, Mind and Spirit exhibition, we spent lots of money on books, spine alignments (my shoulders are very wonky!) hand cream etc etc. It was a very interesting day. In the evening, Jason went to see Pearl Jam again, I had a nice night in on my own...I don't often get any 'me' time so I was looking forward to it. I actually ended up on the phone all night tho, first to Mum, then on Skype to Chris. We did have a good long chat as it had been a while. I did manage to fit in watching my dvd, Mrs Henderson Presents, which was very good.

Sunday Jason and I went around to Grant and Sue's for Grant's birthday. We had a really nice evening, Grant's sister Helen was there visiting from New Zealand with her husband John, Mum and I met them when we were there last year. Had lots of yummy food and wine, then came home to relax a bit before going to bed.

I was up early on yesterday to go to the gym, I must say that I do feel much better going in the morning, it's just so hard to get out of bed! I had an induction course at work all day, it wasn't as bad as I thought, but it's annoying cos I've got so much work to do I would rather be doing that.

Happy News!!

I can finally tell you the great news that I'm going to be an Aunty!! My brother and his wife are 3 months pregnant! They told me a few weeks ago whilst Mum was on holiday over there, I was talking to them on Skype with the webcam and Chris showed a picture of the scan. I couldn't work out what it was for ages, thought it was a picture of the galaxy....then I realised what it was. Obviously the first thing I did was burst into tears!! It is such amazing news, they were all laughing at me, I actually didn't stop crying for the next couple of days. I'm really happy, but I'm also very sad that I'm so far away, I didn't realise it would affect me this much, I didn't think I would feel this way, I don't mean to sound selfish, but I am a bit cos I want to be a part of my neice of nephews life (see I'm starting myself off again getting all emotional!!) I guess I will just have to deal with it and I'm sure they will always be sending pics and stuff. Chris is amazing, he knows just how I feel, so he really understands what I'm going through so I don't have to explain anything to him, and I know he'll always make sure I'm a part of their lives.

So Martina had the 3 month scan on Monday, and all is well, he/she looks more like a baby now in the picture, it's very exciting!!

Went to see U2 last night and they were amazing....I'm still buzzing!! Luckily Jason's back was so much better that he felt up to going to the concert, which was great news...those painkillers were really doing their job! We got to the Olympic park pretty early for a few drinks before going into the stadium. When we got in there, we were really close to the front, plus the stage was elevated so it was a bit easier to see than normal. I actually ended up missing Kanye West, but I wasn't that bothered, we were getting drinks and t-shirts at the time (got a really cool t-shirt!). He only was on for half an hour.

When U2 came on, we all went mad...the atmosphere was electric. I actually had a bit of a cry (I know I'm really sad, but it was really overwhelming, plus I had drunk a couple of buckets of wine!!) had the best night ever, they played for over 2 hours, it was amazing, best concert I've been to. I had another couple of cries throughout the night (a couple of the songs remind me of going to Wales when I was little with my Dad), everyone was laughing at me, I was singing through my tears. I'm a bit stiff today from all that jumping up and down! It's so great that I finally got chance to see them live, I've loved them for years and they didn't disappoint....in fact we had such a good time that Jason and I have bought some more tickets for the extra show tomorrow night!! I'm really excited ;o) The visual show was amazing, a great sight to see.

some pics

It was a pretty late night last night so we had a bit of a lie-in today. We went to the Newtown festival this afternoon for Rach's birthday celebration. It was a boiling day and absolutely packed, we had some nice food and listened to some bands then I came home and Jason and Reece have gone to the pub for a bit. I'm just getting ready for Australian Idol, it's the final 3, all very exciting. I'm a bit gutted tho as I've just found out that the final is on the same night as the Kylie Minogue concert I'm going to, plus Linn is probably getting more tickets for the final, so I guess I will just have to tape it, it's a real shame as I've watched the whole series...oh well, you can't have it all!

It's been a bit of an eventful week. Last night I had to call an ambulance for Jason, he had injured his back playing touch rugby. He came home in pain, but could walk, so he took some painkillers and had a rest, then went to bed. But about 2am he woke up in agony, I didn't really know what to do, I didn't even know the phone number for the ambulance so I had to look on the internet. It was pretty scary cos he was so bad, it took all my control to stop my voice wobbling when I was speaking to the hospital! We got to the hospital about 3am where Jason had some x-rays and more painkillers. Luckily there were no abnormalities on the x-ray. At about 4am he had some more painkillers, the doctor came back 2 hours later to see if he could get out of bed, but he was in too much pain to stand up, so she gave him some more to see how he was in a couple of hours. I thought I'd better go home for an hour to try and get some sleep, I was supposed to be working, I also had to organise someone to pick up Jason's friend Reece, who'd come over from New Zealand for the weekend, such bad timing I tell you, luckily Rachel had the day off so she did if for us. So anyway, I had an hours sleep, then spoke to my boss who said to take the day off to look after Jason. Then I went back to the hospital to pick him up. I got him home ok, he's still in a lot of pain and can hardly walk, he's really drugged up on painkillers, poor thing. I don't know if he'll be able to go to the U2 concert tomorrow, we'll have to see how he feels...fingers crossed.

As for the rest of the week, Monday, not only did Linn, Martin and I get tickets for Idol, but we got VIP tickets!! It was great fun, I regressed to being a teenager, I loved it. Got the butterflies before going on air, Linn was laughing at me cos I was all hyped up. After the show, the presenter Andrew G who knew the guy who had got our tickets asked us if we all wanted to go to the green room after. Of course we did go, Anthony Callea (former Oz idol winner) was there, then we met the presenters. I talked to the remaining singers, there are only 3 left now. Jess who I want to win was so sweet, she gave me a hug when I told her I thought she should win! So that was a great night. When I got back I watched it on video, and we were on TV loads, when I went to work the next day, one of the guys said that the cameraman much have fancied me as we were on so much, haha! they were all really jealous.

Tuesday it was Melbourne Cup day, I went to the pub with my boss and the guys (I was ordered to!) I came 2nd on the sweepstake and won $16. In the evening we went to the Pearl Jam concert. It was really good, although I only knew about 3 of the songs.

Wednesday night we went to dinner with Sean, Tommo and Rach, had a lovely Italian meal..yum.

Last night I had my weigh in at the gym. I lost nearly 6cm all over...2 from my belly, 1 from my waist and a bit from my thighs, but I had managed to put on a bit of weight. The trainer said that was normal tho, as muscle weighs heavier than fat...so I'm on track.

Well, I was really sick last Sunday night, I had to take the day off work on Monday I was so bad, so I didn't get a chance to see my boss from Munich on Monday night. Luckily I was feeling better on Tuesday so I managed to meet up with him then. It was nice to catch up him and his daughter, she is over here for a while to improve her English. They took us to a really expensive seafood restaurant at Darling Harbour. It was very nice, but the portions were very small..so small in fact that I was still hungry after!! I'll stick to cheap and cheerful next time!

I haven't got to catch up with Nicola yet, I didn't hear from her all week, but she called me at the weekend, and we hope to meet up when she comes back from up the coast.

We had a really nice weekend at Hunter Valley, we went up straight from work on Friday. Linn had hired a really nice house for all of us, it was so peaceful, right in the middle of nowhere. Friday night we just had a few drinks in the house, then Saturday we went out for the wine tour. It was a great laugh, we all dressed up, Linn asked us to wear some sort of headwear and footwear for it...she was dressed up as a ballerina! There were some funny costumes, imagine the looks we got, there was about 15 dressed up! We visited some really nice wineries, one winery they had a huge St Bernard, he was so cute.

We had quite a big party when we got back,but I was so tired I had to go to bed about 11pm. You should have seen the state of the place in the morning, it took a lot of cleaning up.

Today we left at midday and took a drive to a couple more wineries and did some tasting in some cheese and chocolate shops. We bought some yummy cheese and tried some chocolate dipped strawberries and marshmallows...heaven! I really love Hunter Valley, it's so peaceful, and of course drinking wine, eating cheese and chocolate helps!

Tomorrow night Linn and Martin have got me a ticket to see Australian Idol at the TV studio, unfortunately it's not the show when they sing, but the elimination night, but it should still be good fun, wonder if I'll get on TV?!!

This week's gonna be so busy again, Tuesday night we're going to see Pearl Jam, Weds we're going to Seans for dinner, then Friday Jasons' friend is arriving from New Zealand for the U2 concert on Saturday...it's all go!!!

here are some pics

Our house for the weekend

The gang

me and Jase

the St Bernard

It's been quite a busy week, I've been to the gym lots, I'm really enjoying it, although I'm not looking forward to my weigh-in next week! On Wednesday night, we went out to meet Martin's parents who are over from Sweden, we went to the Cushion Bar, they had a couple of guys playing guitars and singing, they were really good. Martin's parents were lovely, they kept inviting us to stay with them if ever we were in Sweden.

Friday at work we had a picnic in the Botanical Gardens, it was a really nice couple of hours, I don't really make much of an effort to go out at lunch, which I should as I'm only a 2 minute walk from Circular Quay where the Opera House is (you can see the Harbour Bridge from my office window, how lucky am I!!). I met Jason after work at Darling Harbour, we had free tickets for the Imax, a film called Extreme, it was really good, lots of rock climbing and snowboarding, cool! After we went to dinner and to a couple of bars. We also popped into the casino at Star City, it was heaving, lots of Asians gambling away their money!

Yesterday I went to the gym in the morning, then cleaned the apartment, then Jason and I went for a game of tennis. We played a proper game this time, and it was much more interesting than just volleying. I was actually quite ok at it, Jason was suprised, I managed to serve pretty well. I won a few sets, but I think Jason was being nice to me! We are playing badminton on Wednesday.

I met up with Sue in the evening to go to my friend Gemma's flat. She had organised a 'girls night in' in aid of the Breast cancer charity. She went to a real effort, we had a really nice evening, she'd made all the dips and breads and lots of other tasty nibbles. I was quite chuffed too, I won the main prize in the raffle (I've been quite lucky lately) one of the girls who works at a day spa got them to donate a spa treatment for the cause, so for $10, I won a $100 Full body exfoliation with mineral salts, followed by a Vichy shower water treatment (sounds intriguing!) everyone was really jealous!! We raised over $400 for the night which we were really pleased about, all in all, a great night....but it wasn't over, I had arranged to meet up with Linn and the guys in the city afterwards to celebrate her 30th birthday, so I had a fun night with them too, didn't get home until about 4am, plus daylight savings started today, so we've lost another hour. It's 2pm, and I've only just got up and showered!!

I've got a busy week ahead. My ex-boss from HP, Munich is in town to visit his daughter, so he is taking Jason and I out for dinner tomorrow night, I'm trying to think of a nice place to take him. Then Nicola, a friend I know from Munich also is out her to visit her sister, so I'm sure we'll meet up a couple of times. And next Friday night, we are off for a weekend at Hunter Valley (wine region). Linn organised it as part of her 30th birthday celebrations, I think there are quite a few of us going, so it should be good fun. We have a wine tour booked for the Saturday which I'm really looking forward to!

We had Rach and Stu around for dinner on Friday night, Jason cooked a nice curry and some mushroom chips. Next day I went to get my eyes tested.... now I've got my health insurance I thought I'd make the most of it. Apparently my right eye has got a bit better and my current glasses are too strong so I have to get new lenses. I was going to keep my frames and just change the lenses, but I started looking at the frames in the shop and mine looked really old fashioned compared to them (seeing as they are about 8 years old, I guess that makes sense!). So I found a really nice pair, I just have to wait over a week while they get made.

Saturday night we went to Curly's for his girlfriend Sabrina's birthday. She is Brazillian, so there was lots of dancing and food and strong cocktails. We ended up getting home about 2.30.

Yesterday we had a lie-in, then we went to the cinema to see a new Australian film, Boytown, it's a mickey take of a group of middle aged guys that were in a boyband in the 80s, they got back together for a comeback. It was very funny, some of the songs they sang were hilarious, instead of aiming for the younger audience, they were dedicating their music to all the older woman that used to be their fans (there was Pussy whipped, Love Handles, Special time of the month) very amusing. After that we took a walk down to the beach as it was a lovely day and sat down with the papers, it was nice to get some sunshine, the weather has been up and down for about a month, you don't know what it's going to be like from one day to the next!

I've just been listening to the news, they are saying that the price of bread and milk is going to increase because of the drought. It's been raining lots, but the dams are still only 40% full. There is a joke that people should go on holiday to the catchment areas cos it never rains there!!

I've made myself a vow, I'm not going swimming in the sea again in Australia. There has been quite a few shark sightings in recent weeks, there was a tiger shark at Bondi, it was sighted 50 metres from the shore. Then our friend Sean, who lives right near Coogee beach here said there were a couple of warnings there, apparently the sirens went off and everything.....never again I say.... I'm sticking to our swimming pool!!

I've been really good with my exercising this week, I've been to the gym twice and Jason and I played tennis tonight. I really enjoyed it actually...I haven't played tennis for about 15 years, and I'm still rubbish at it! Poor Jason was probably really bored, it's not as if I couldn't hit the ball at all, but I did miss a lot!! We've decided to try badminton next week as I told him I'm a bit better at that...we'll see! The last time I played that was in Germany with my brother, he was really cruel to me and made me run all over the court trying to hit the shuttlecock...I was knackered after!

I joined a gym this week. Well it's not really a proper gym, it's called Curves and it's just for women. It's a circuit of strength training machines. I really like it there, they measure and weigh you every month to keep track of how you're getting on, and it's really personalised, normally at a gym you're just another face, but here they really speak to you to see how you're getting on. They promise you that you only need to go for 30 mins, 3 times a week, which sounds good to me! One of the staff promised me lots of toned, lean muscles, which is great! I'm trying to persuade my Mum to join the one up the road from her in England, hopefully she'll give it a try.

I met Sue after work last night, we went to some new bars in the city which were really good. Whilst we were walking to a different bar, I bumped into Satomi (the Japanese girl that I lived with when I first moved to the city...remember she speaks Engrish!!) we were both really shocked to see each other after so long. She was telling me that the house where we lived had been set on fire. One of the girls that lived there left a candle on when she went out...she also left the window open so the wind blew the flame and the place caught fire! This was back in April and Michael, the landlord still can't live there as it's still being renovated, so it must have been really bad. Satomi said he was even thinking of sueing the girl (who is now back in UK) I'm so lucky I wasn't still living there...Satomi said a lot of her stuff was ruined. So that was a bit of gossip. It was funny, I had walked nearby to the house a few months ago and I thought that it looked like it'd been in an explosion!

Anyway, after that we had a few more drinks, but unfortunately Sue had had a really busy week, so she went home at about 11.30...I was a bit disappointed as I was in the mood for a boogie, but it was probably a good thing, I managed to be in bed at a reasonable hour, which meant I could get up early this morning and go to the gym. It was quite tough finding the energy to exercise, as it was really hot (today and yesterday there was a high of 37 degrees!) ...but I did manage some and felt really good after. I was quite flattered...one of the women there was saying how slim I looked, but that was probably because I was so young...she then asked me how old I was and I said 32, she couldnt' believe it, she thought I was about 22!! I just thought to myself, she must be a bit blind, hahaa!!

So after that I got home and we went for a dip in the pool (my first one) it was absolutely freezing, but so refreshing after being in the heat. We stayed there for about an hour, then had some lunch. This afternoon we've just been to the shops to buy some cds and our weekly shopping. Just tried to phone my brother, but I guess he's gone out. Maybe will try again tomorrow. Not sure what we're doing tonight...we're both pretty hot sat at home...the good thing about living in Australia is you can always go to a bar or to the cinema to find some relief from the heat with the aircon, so maybe we'll do that!

I'm just trying to remember what we did last week! I can remember the weekend, so I'll start there. Friday night we went to Bondi to meet up with Mike who was back from the mines for a few days, we also caught up with Gemma and Garry, our Irish friends who we always have trouble meeting up with. It was a pretty quiet night tho, we were home about midnight.

Saturday night we entertained Linn and Martin, they came around for one of Jason's specialities, tuna and tomato risotto. Linn had already drunk a bottle of champagne before she came around, so she was very amusing! I'd been speaking to my brother on Skype just before they came around and was telling them about it, they'd never used it before, so I decided to show them how it worked. We phoned Chris up and Linn was just amazed, then I put the webcam up so she could see him and she went mental, it was so funny...she was right up against the camera waving at him..no wonder he couldn't see us! It was so weird to be able to introduce my friends to my brother over the internet! After dinner I had a singing lesson, Linn is a trained singer, so she was giving me some tips, it was really funny, she showed me how to breathe correctly and then we sang. She said I have a really good ear for music and that my pitch is really good, I was quite chuffed. I'm going to try and have another lesson soon.

Sunday we all went around to Curly's girlfriends friends house, for a bbq. The house was huge and really beautiful, they had a swimming pool too, but unfortunately as soon as we got there the weather turned rubbish. It was a good day though, lots of nice food.

We've got our tickets for New Years Eve now, we are going to see the Basement Jaxx on Bondi Beach, so it should be great fun ;o)

It's been a pretty busy week and weekend. On Wednesday night, Jason and I went back to the Lowenbrau for the Oktoberfest. There was a big table of us, it was quite good fun. The entertainment was fun, but it wasn't very authentic German, more like Swiss or Austrian. The band were playing tunes on the cowbells, then Sue and I and 8 other girls got dragged up to play them...when the guy pointed his microphone at us, we had to ring them....we played Edelweiss very well!! Then they had beer drinking competitions. The food wasn't the best though, I don't think we'll be going back again anytime soon, and it's really expensive too!

here are some pics.....(sorry, I'm having trouble resizing them)

Playing the cowbells

Sue and I with our cowbells

Having a beer

Friday, I won the raffle 1st prize at work ($80) I was well chuffed, so I took Jason for a night out in the city. We went to a few bars along Oxford Street, it was good fun. We didn't get home til really late so we had a lie in on Saturday. We had to go to the supermarket as we were entertaining in the evening, so we bought lots of yummy dips and nibbles. We had a really nice evening, Rach, Stu, Curly, Sue and Roger all came around, they really liked our new home, Rach says it's really welcoming which is nice. We've got even more photos up now, we've ran out of shelf space!

Sunday we went down to the pub in the afternoon to meet Jason's cousin who was over with the navy, we also met up with Sean and his friends. It was a really good afternoon....even better was that there was a public holiday the next day. We stayed there until about 12.30 when it closed, I didn't want to leave as we were having fun :-( it's probably a good job that we did though, otherwise today I would have been even more knackered. We haven't done much today, just lazed around watching tv...I love days like that!

These weeks go by so quickly, it's Monday before I know it, and again it's been a week since updated my blog! I can't even remember what I did last week. I think it was Thursday we had Rod around for dinner as a thank you for helping us move flat. I bought a new cookery book, so Jason cooked us a nice meal from that...I'm really getting too used to being cooked for all the time, I really can't be bothered to cook anymore. Friday after work I went for a couple of drinks with the guys from work (me and 6 men!). We went to the Customs House which is a really popular bar in the summer, it was packed outside cos the evening was so warm. After that I met up with Jason. I had booked a table for the Oktoberfest at the Lowenbrau bier keller in town, but when we got there we got shoved into the back room of the place and not in the hall where all the entertainment was. I wasn't very happy as I'd booked the table weeks ago! In the end we just decided to have a drink there and then go back on Wednesday night as Sue's friend had booked a table for a big group of us, so we went for a curry instead.

Saturday I went shopping for some new work clothes. I had quite a successful day, I bought some nice new things, I still need some more work shoes though. I really do struggle with the shoes over here, I've bought that many pairs, and I can't think of one pair that don't hurt when I wear them...even the bloomin flip flops hurt! Jason picked me up when I'd finished (5 hours later!) and we briefly went to the pub to say goodbye to Linn and Martin who are off to New Zealand for their holiday. Then we went home and Jason cooked for me again, we had chick pea salsa in tortillas with sour cream and avocado amongst other lovely things. After that, we decided to pop down the road to Coogee for a few drinks as it was such a nice evening, it's the first time since we've moved that we've been out on a Saturday night!

Sunday it was boiling, 33 degrees with a really hot wind. We had to shut the windows to keep the hot air out. We decided to go to the cinema to keep cool, we saw An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about global warming by Al Gore. It was really interesting, but also frustrating at the same time....why can't these polititians do more to acknowledge what is going on in our world and do something about it, things would be so different if Al Gore had been voted President and not George Bush...at least he cares about what is going on! It showed that America really is the worst offender. Anyway, that was about it for Sunday, we just watched a dvd in the evening (after Australian Idol). We were watching the news and there were lots of bush fires yesterday, I can't believe it's only just spring and they are having these problems already. It was a very oppressive day.

I'm feeling very tired and sleepy today, even though it's a lot cooler, I think yesterday took it's toll on everyone. I managed to go for a run after work, don't know where I got the energy!! I also finally got my New Zealand residency application ready to send off this week... that's been a long time coming, so much info to get together, all those police checks and medicals...cost me a fortune!

The weather here was beautiful over the weekend, considering last weekend was wet, cold and windy, it goes from one extreme to the other!

Didn't do so much, on Friday night we went around to Rach and Stu's as they had just got back from their 3 week trip to UK, we had a few drinks there. Then Saturday day we spent a fortune on getting my pictures developed and photo frames to put them in. I spent the afternoon putting them up around the house, and I must say, I'm so pleased with them. There are a lot of landscape pictures from my trip, lots of sunsets and beaches....they really look quite professional, I can't stop looking at them I'm that pleased!!

In the evening we just watched a dvd (it was the 3rd Saturday night we've stayed in!!). Sunday we went to Newtown, there was an Earth festival on which involved lots of djs and loads of hippies on drugs! It wasn't my thing really, but it was nice to catch up with our friends. I didn't stay that late, I got home about 6pm and watched Australian Idol, I've never really got into it before, but it's easy to get hooked.

That's about it really, back to work today and busy as ever!

Well, considering we've got the internet at home, I've been neglecting my blog a bit! I managed to get on Skype to speak to my brother which is great, it's actually very clear, even better than on the phone...I also got a webcam, so we've been chatting and it's great that we can see each other too.

We had our friend Sean around for dinner on Thursday night as a thank you for letting us stay at his. Jason cooked some sweetcorn and tuna balls and then we had cannelloni....really yummy. He's actually been great with the cooking, most nights my dinner has been ready for me when I get home from work as I don't finish til after him. Last night we had tuna and tomato risotto and garlic bread, I could really get used to this ;o)

So, what else have I been up to...well, work is great, still really busy, learning lots everyday. I met up with Sue on Friday after work, I also invited a friend of Alex's (who I know from Munich) Dan has just arrived here on a 4 year work contract and doesn't know anyone, so Alex gave him my email address. We had a few drinks with him, then he left us to it. We ended up having a really fun night, not that I can remember much! we hadn't been out like that for a long time and it was great....so great, I didn't get home till 4am!!

Saturday I wasn't feeling the best, we popped to the shopping centre and then we had to come back home...I needed to lie down! We had a lazy afternoon and got out a dvd in the evening. Then yesterday we went shopping for a coffee table and some cushions....very domesticated!! The weather has been so bad that we haven't wanted to go out anyway, winter has come back and it's been really wet and windy.

I'm sat here writing this in the luxury of my own home...yes, we finally got broadband!!! We got the modem in the post today, and we set it up straight away...easy peasy!

It's been a really busy day at work, I'm trying to suss out paying the invoices, it's really complicated cos they get split between about a million cost centres, and I have to work out all the amounts...it's a real stresser, but I'm slowly getting there, I'm lucky in that I can still contact Roxanne (my predecessor) and she can help me out.

I went for some more acupuncture tonight, it was ok, apart from there was a woman in the next bed moaning and shouting to see a doctor, in all the fuss they forgot about me and I had the needles in too long (not sure if that matters, but it made me feel a bit queezy!) anyway, no harm done.

I'm now going to try and log onto Skype in the hope of chatting to my brother. We hardly ever speak cos the phone costs are so astronomical....so fingers crossed!

It's the 2nd day of spring today and it's boiling, 28 degrees! Typically for here there wasn't the gradual change of seasons...it just goes full on from one day being a cold winter day, to the next day spring (well, feels like summer!) it's pretty mad.

It's been another very busy week. I had my first full week at work and I must say I did really enjoy it. There is so much to learn, but it's a real challenge and I really thrive on that. The people are really nice, and my boss is great to work for (well, so far anyway!). The days are flying by because I'm so busy, I'm not used to that at all.

The flat is great, it's really feeling like home now. We finally got the landlord to send a pest control guy around last Thursday, he put some gel down to get rid of the cockroaches...so far so good, touch wood, it's been ok. We do still have a few ants, but he suggested to put some lemon oil down, so I bought some today.

We had a few friends around for drinks last night, we have decided just to invite a few people at a time to keep it quietish, Linn and Martin are going on holiday soon, so them and Neill were the first on our list. It was a really nice night, was great to be able to entertain when and who we wanted, it's so good living on our own.

Today I came into town, I've been having trouble with my lower back for a few months now, I had an xray, but nothing showed up, so the doctor suggested acupuncture. I was a bit dubious at first, I really hate needles, they always make me go a bit queezy, but I went on Wednesday after work. It didn't hurt at all, I had about 6 needles, 4 in my back and 2 in the backs of my knees, but it was the thought that made me feel funny. It took about 20 mins for me to feel ok after. Anyway, back to today, I was supposed to go back today, but I got there and they said you have to pay $70 as it's a Saturday, so I said I'd go back next week. My back does feel a little better, but it's still aching....Jason keeps telling me off for bending over without bending my knees...oops! So instead of going to the doctors, I went shopping and bought lots of Cds and some sunglasses. I haven't spent any money on myself for ages, so thought I deserved it as I got a new job. Now though we have to buckle our belts and start saving for our wedding.

I'm soooo knackered! This last week has been so busy, what with moving flat and starting a new job. I must first correct myself regarding my new job title...I'm actually a Senior Product Administrator (scary sounding!) I had 2 days handover with the girl that's leaving on Thursday and Friday and my brain feels like it's going to explode!! There is so much information to learn, I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to do it all, but I guess that's the same whenever you start a new job. The team are really nice, they are all really young and good fun, which is different from working for a government company. I had 2 lunches already, they had a PA lunch on Thursday and a leaving lunch for Roxanne on Friday, so I got to meet some more people. I'm a bit worried about going in tomorrow as I'll be on my own...scary stuff!

We've had a busy weekend too, yesterday we caught the bus to Palm beach for a friends birthday and leaving do, we had a bbq and then went to the pub for a bit. Today we've got more of the flat cleaned up and it's looking pretty good now. We've just got back from shopping now with some more essentials, so hopefully we'll get a nice relaxing evening with a dvd (I haven't had one of those for ages!!)

Here are some pics from the flat

The kitchen

Main bedroom

Spare room

Lounge

Balcony

Our pool!

I finally got offered a job yesterday! It's a 12 month contract, but it's great as I get all the perks of a permanent job (holidays, sick pay etc). It was all a bit last minute, I was supposed to finish at Sydney Water on Friday, but they desperately needed someoneto start tomorrow as the girl is leaving for her maternity leave. I felt a bit bad leaving early, but I have to do it and they understood...so I start my new job tomorrow. I'll be a PA for one of the heads of department at a company called Clearview (financial services). I'm a bit nervous, but that's normal and I'm so used to starting new jobs. So it seems finally everything is coming together at long last!

Some more good news, my Mum has booked her flight over in Feb next year ;o)